Project Hatley
by Zontsky
Summary: When Jemma and Skye's daughter drowns, their life together ceases to exist. Torn apart by the loss of their baby, they go their seperate ways. Until a takedown of Jemma's old laboratory happens, and a shocking discovery is made by Skye. Will they be able to work together to prevent another tragedy, or are old memories just too painful?
1. Prologue

"Mama, watch me!" Cried out a little voice as tiny shoes tapped across the patio, a basketball bouncing from one end to the other as a precocious little girl struggled to keep up with it. Every time she hit the ball, it bounced further from her and her giggles filled not just the air, but her Mother's heart as well. "Watch me, Mama!"

Skye couldn't help but laugh as the toddler-sized ball went flying in the opposite direction of the hoop, and the little girl let out a frustrated but silly shout of "Roxy!" when their German Shepherd threw herself into the game, stealing the ball from her tiny master and running off to a corner of the deck to chew on it a little bit. She saw the annoyance flare up in her daughter's eyes, a trademark look that her wife and daughter shared, before the child gave up on her game and went running over to her. Barely shifting in her seat before a small body was flinging itself onto her stomache, Skye wrapped her arms around the four year old and hugged her close.

"Was I good, Mama?" She whispered, nestling herself into the crook of her Mother's arms.

All it took was a single glance down at her daughter before Skye was nodding and kissing the top of her baby's head. "You were fantastic, Hatley." She smiled brightly, the next words rolling off her tongue before she could think of what Jemma might say. "Almost good enough to play with me and Auntie Bobbi." Skye knew Jemma would have a complaint to that. It was the age-old battle between them, whether Hatley would be into sports, computers and cars like her, or into books, science and learning like Jemma. So far Skye was winning on the sports part, but Jemma had her hook, line and sinker on the books and learning.

"Really mean that?" Hatley lit up brighter than a star and Skye knew she'd willingly fight Jemma on putting the girl into basketball next year when she went to school if it meant her little girl would smile like that more often. The older woman had spent every night for four years tracing that smile with her fingertips as her daughter slept, and seeing it so big and happy made Skye willing to walk through the fire that was her wife scorned.

Besides, their little "fights" were no more than playful arguments after Hatley was in bed. Arguments that usually lead to some 'bad girl shenanigans.'

"You bet!" Skye grinned as Hatley twisted around on her lap to look at her for a moment before leaning forward and kissing her cheek ever so delicately, her hand coming up to cup her Mother's face and Skye's heart ached. How did she get the sweetest most precious little girl in the world? At one point she had thought that she'd be alone forever, with just her laptop and her van to keep her company. That had been a long time ago but it still felt like just yesterday that Jemma walked into her life. Without the beautiful, stunning British Scientist, Skye might've stuck to a life of petty crime... She knew she certainly wouldn't have trusted herself with a kid if it hadn't been Jemma's idea.

She didn't like to think of those times, but sometimes holding Hatley close or tucking her in at night, kissing Jemma goodbye before work or making her scream her name in the bedroom, Skye knew how close she had been to not having that.

"Love, can I get your help in here? I need you to hold the cake still as I ice the roses on!"

As Skye pulled herself out of the lounger, setting her daughter down and telling her to try stealing the ball from Roxy so she could keep practicing while she went inside for just a moment, the first thought on her mind was how she shouldn't take anything, not even icing her baby girl's fourth birthday cake, for granted.

* * *

"Skye... Can I talk to you about something, sweetie?" Jemma murmured as she drew the last dab of icing to finish the 'y' in Hatley's name. Skye had been staring at her for close to fifteen minutes with a goofy look on her face and as embarrassing as it was for the Brit, it only reassured her of what she had wanted to say for some time.

Making only a grunt of approval in recognition, Skye just caught her wife's wrist as she finished icing, pulling her in close and laying a kiss on her lips before letting her go again. "Whatever you want, babe." She grinned before tucking a hair behind Jemma's ear and looking her in the eyes.

"Okay..." Jemma paused, suddenly nervous.

Whether Skye noticed or not was lost on Jemma as she looked down and opened her mouth for the rant she had been preparing for the better part of six months, a rant that had kept her up at night and was whispered between checking specimens at the lab. "So, I know that after we got Roxy for Hatley on Christmas, you said that our family was complete and that one kid and one dog was just perfect for you, but I really think that maybe we should change our mind because we have all this room now that we've moved here, and the area's just perfect for letting Roxy run around, and Hatley too, and I think we should get another."

It was said in a rushed breath so quick that Skye strained to pick out what Jemma was getting at before a hint of realization hit her. "Another one? Babe, I think one is enough." She said very seriously and Jemma's heart sank a little bit in disappointment. "I mean, Roxy already drags Hatley behind her on walks, can you imagine if we got her another puppy? They'd go two seperate directions and tear her in two! Maybe when Hatley is older and Roxy is out of her puppy years?"

Jemma stared wide-eyed for a moment. "Skye... I didn't mean another dog."

"Then another what- oh." Skye paused. "You mean another..." At the pensive nod on Jemma's head, Skye froze to let it sink in.

Sensing her hesitation, the brunette rushed into another ramble of words, these ones even less coherent than the last. "I mean, Hatley is getting so big, and we have so much room here now and I really want another and-"

"Yes."

"Yes?"

"Are you kidding me? Of course! Yes, I want another baby with you. Why wouldn't I?" Skye let out a yelp as she threw her arms around Jemma and brought her close, her lips smashing against her wife's in a passionate adoring kiss, her hands moving to Jemma's waist to hold her tightly. "I'll take three, four, however many you want Jem!"

Jemma blushed bright red as she kissed Skye back, her ears growing warm. "I think two is a place to start, speaking of two, where is one?" She raised an eyebrow, glancing over to the kitchen sliding doors that opened up onto the deck. It was empty, the thudding of the basketball having not been heard since Skye came inside.

"What are you talking about, she's right out..." Skye trailed off, both women rushing to the doors, before pulling them open and stepping onto the deck.

Almost immediately, Skye felt her heart sink.

Not only was the deck completely abandoned, the back yard was empty, not a sign of her daughter or her puppy anywhere. Terror filled Skye's veins and panic filled Jemma's voice as the two mothers started calling out for Hatley, begging her to come out of hiding and scolding her that it wasn't nice to play tricks like that. Something was very wrong though and Skye could feel it in the pit of her stomache, the backyard wasn't big enough for the girl to hide easily, at least not out of their sight. That wasn't it though, the true heart-stopping fear started when Skye saw that the back gate was open and tiny foot prints heading off into the direction of the forest.

"Hatley!"

* * *

Skye ran through the forest as fast as she could, her voice growing hoarse from shouting her daughter's name over and over again, she could hear Jemma just a few dozen feet away in the opposite direction, shouting the same thing over and over again as loud as both girls could possibly yell.

Her eyes stung with tears, both fear and anger coursing through her, Hatley knew better than to go into the forest behind the house. It wasn't safe.

That was the only thing she could think of, was that it wasn't safe, not for her and not for Jemma, certainly not for a little girl barely old enough to sleep in her own room. A little girl that was terrified of monsters in her closet, and of the dark. What was her daughter doing out here, where she wasn't in her Mothers' safe embrace?

And then she heard the barking.

Frantic barking that she had never heard before, yet knew instinctively that it had to have come from Roxy. "Hatley?!" She shouted before turning and following in the direction of the barking. As she got closer to the barking, a new sound took over her ears. It was rushing water, and despite the burning in her lungs, she forced her legs to go faster, a tightness in her chest winding up more and more until she saw Roxy in her sight and the small river that marked the edge of the forest.

The sight that met her eyes next was one that would haunt Skye's nightmares for the rest of her life.

"HATLEY!" She shrieked in a voice far too shrill to be her own as her stomache lurched into her throat. There was no hesitation or second thought before Skye was throwing herself into the river after her child, the little girl who she knew was an extension of her own heart, floated face down in the water.

She could hear the faint sounds of her dog continuing to bark in panic, but nothing had her attention but the child she was desperately fighting against the current to get to. With each push and pull it almost threw her under, but she was a lot stronger than a four year old, and she had the adrenaline rush of a Mother faced with the terrifying thought of her child drowning. She reached Hatley in thirty seconds but it felt like an eternity longer as she was pulling the little girl into her arms and flipping her face up.

Skye began the struggle back through the water, her daughter cradled against her chest and was able to pull them onto the riverbank before collapsing next to Hatley, her screams for her wife starting as she tried to pull herself to her knees, to get to her baby. To do something, anything, to get her little girl to breathe.

"Jemma! Help, Jemma! Oh god..." Her screams turned to sobs as she pulled Hatley into her lap, and any noise she heard from the river, from the dog, from her wife, turned into a loud ringing in her ears.

* * *

"Hatley!" Skye screeched as she threw herself out of bed, crashing to the ground with a loud thud and a curse. "Fuck!"

Glancing around the room for a moment in a panic, her eyes settled on Roxy, all grown-up now, who gave her a sympathetic look before resting her head back onto her paws. Her heart slowed down from it's racing as she stared at the side of the bed that was supposed to be Jemma's, just as neat and untouched as it was the night Jemma left her, nearly five years ago. With a grumble, Skye pulled herself back to her feet and grabbed at her cell-phone to check the time, when it flashed and an incoming call was shown.

It was Trip, her partner, and at ten minutes after two, Skye figured that he better have something important to say for waking her up.

(okay, that's not what woke her up, but she would spend the rest of the week bitching about Trip waking her up, instead of nightmares of her old life.)

"What is it?" Skye hissed into the phone, sitting down on the edge of her bed and running a hand through Roxy's fur, scratching the only family member she had left behind the ears as she narrowed her eyes like Trip was able to see her.

The voice on the other end was far too cheerful for the middle of the night, but Skye tolerated it. "Morning Starshine, you might want to get your pants on and your gun holstered then get down to the station as quickly as you can."

About to open her mouth in a snarky comment, Trip shut her up in the best way he could. "We just got the a-okay from Coulson to shut down Hydra's Biotech Laboratory, the one in Regency." There was a pause before Skye was hanging up the phone and dashing for her pants and gun.

Regency Biotech Labs was Jemma's old lab.


	2. Case Files

It took thirty-eight minutes for Skye to get from her house to Regency Biotech.

Less than ten for her to practically run to the station, a mere five for briefing and getting ready, then the longest car ride of her life sandwiched between Trip and Bobbi. Her heart thumped in her chest painfully, she hadn't felt this wound up in years, and even though she knew Jemma had quit the labs not long after Hatley had died, there was still that fear that something they might find could wind up being linked to the love of her life. Despite having not spoken to Jemma since shortly after the funeral, Skye still loved her wife with her entire heart and would do anything to protect her.

Trip had known, and despite Captain Coulson's greater judgement, he had agreed that Skye needed to be there when the lab was searched for evidence.

On one hand, Skye was immensely grateful to be included. For the past five years her job had been her life, and her friends had become the only family she had left (or at least half of them had, the other half had sided with her wife) so the thought that they trusted her enough with this. It was heartwarming.

But on the other hand, she knew the problems that could come from this. She had heard Jemma cry out in her sleep so many nights, twisting and turning from the thoughts of the things she had done at work. Skye had wanted her to quit long before she did, but her beautiful lady had been so righteous and good that no matter what her laboratory did that was morally ambiguous, she refused to give up on the life-saving measures that were the main focus at Regency.

After Jemma's whole world had exploded though, she didn't care what happened to the rest of it.

Funnily enough, Skye had cried the day Jemma finally did quit, because she knew that the part of her wife that believed in good, was gone.

Regency wasn't exactly bad, to be fair, they did a lot of advancements for mankind; research on preventable diseases, stem cell development, and even cybnetic transplants for people who had lost arms, legs and even parts of their mind. They didn't do their research very legally though, and after Jemma had left, there was an increase on the illegal activity that went down. Skye's team had spent the better part of four years looking for loopholes and hints that would lead to them being allowed to shut Regency down as more and more doctors quit and the practice became more and more abandoned and secretive.

Nowadays it wasn't much more than an empty building, long abandoned by Biotech's parent company, HYDRA. There wasn't any doctors or scientists still linked to the job, nor was there anymore illegal activity, but Coulson had still wanted to shut it down. To find anything that might remain, might be able to help shut down HYDRA.

It made Skye uneasy, going into the place that had once been so prominent in her families life. Knowing that if the place wasn't completely scorched clean, they could find something that could link back to Jemma. Knowing that she'd be staring at the remains of her wife's long, hours at the office and hard work.

But with her bestfriend since she was a child, and the man who had given Jemma away at her wedding by her side, she knew that as unsafe as this whole operation was.

At least she would be safe, she hoped.

* * *

Getting through the first level proved to be a little difficult, the building hadn't so much been abandoned as it had been trashed, the last people there obviously wanting to make it as hard as possible to find anything of value. They knew HYDRA had been tipped off of the raid, and it was clear to see that they made the most of that little time advantage they had to cover their tracks.

Desks were overturned, chairs had been thrown around and shattered, glass littered the floor making even stepping across the lobby a job in itself. The room was a wreck, a dangerous wreck, and Lance Hunter, the man in charge of today's raid had a hard enough time organizing his men (and women) into search groups without worrying if the ceiling was going to come down overtop of them. Judging by how precariously the chandelier was hanging, that would go first.

"Bobbi, Skye! I want you in the record offices, find anything you can about well... anything!" He drawled out in a smooth British accent that made it hard to see him as anything but the cunning guy her bestfriend was sleeping with, but regardless Skye had followed Bobbi down a hallway, just barely missing the end of Lance commanding the boys to go upstairs to the genetics laboratory.

At least that was a comfort, Skye knew that Jemma's laboratory, the chemistry one was far enough away from genetics that it would be some time before the boys reached there, and by that time Skye would probably be searching with them. She had some time to calm herself down.

And the record offices were quiet, peaceful, some place that Skye could think for a second about what would happen if they did find something to incriminate Jem-

"Skye... Take a look at this." Bobbi's voice wavered a little as she handed a file out of the desk over to the young brunette.

The woman in question felt her hands tremble as she thumbed through what she had been handed quickly, eyes scanning the document as she read up about her beloved wife. The file in question was large and full of uncomfortable details about Jemma's life... Skye's life. Their life together. Details about where they lived, what time they went to bed, what school both women went too as children. There were details that Skye didn't even think she had told Jemma, and details that Skye knew Jemma had never told her. Childhood fears, grades in high school, where they shopped for certain things.

It unnerved her further. "Are all the files this... detailed?" She whispered, turning to look at Bobbi with a concerned look in her eyes.

At the shake of her friend's head, her stomache dropped out and she flipped through one of the last pages to come across a picture of her baby girl, smiling brightly at her first day of preschool, the words printed overtop of it in red made her eyes tear up as it stated her birth and deathdate. But the thing that had her ready to throw the file to the ground and heave into the nearest trashcan was the realization that she couldn't remember either her or Jemma taking that picture.

They had often had discussions about why Jemma thought work was a little too interested in her, Skye and Hatley... At the time, the ex-hacker turned computer crime analyst had brushed it off, her coworkers had always been interested in her family too. Although, thinking back, Skye had made friends with her coworkers, compared to Jemma whom had only become friends with her lab assistant Fitz. Now, Skye wished she had paid a little bit more attention to Jemma's concerns.

This wasn't normal.

About to tell Bobbi what the file had disturbingly included, a crackle from the radio had the girls turning to each other in confusion.

"Ladies, you better get up here and quick."

* * *

The second floor of the building was less of a mess than the first, no broken glass or splintered wood, but that was almost the thing that was off about this floor. While the entrance had looked completely damaged, this lab looked like it could be put back together with little to no effort. It was almost like things had been placed precisely out of whack to look like a disorganized mess. Not dirty, not destroyed. Just unorganized.

If Trip didn't know any better, he'd say that the lobby was just a cover, make things look abandoned so that nobody would dare explore further. This floor looked less like everyone had quit and ruined the evidence that they were ever there, and more like people had stepped out of the room and knocked some stuff over as they went.

It was kind of worrisome.

Trip had taken one look at the room and not wanted to go any further just in case it was a trap. Their newest recruit Lincoln had gone forward before he had been able to stop him though, and once convinced that it was safe, Mack had gone after him, knowing that no matter how much longer Trip had been an officer than him, Coulson had made it very clear that he wanted everything search as thoroughly as they could.

Besides, Hunter had gone along with them and as the man in charge of this particular run, there was nothing Trip could say to stop him.

That was when Trip first considered calling the girls to come up and help, if anyone was able to talk the boys down from their search into listening to him, it was Skye with a little muscle help from Bobbi. He hadn't bothered though, an uneasy feeling had rushed over him and he almost didn't want to call for Skye, a need to protect his former bestfriend's wife coming over him. Something wasn't right and despite it only being an intuition, he had a thought that it had to do with his chosen family.

"Guys, listen to this!" There was a shout as Mack came across a file that didn't look out of place, put away on a desk properly, not a speck of dust on it. He had flipped open to a random page and started to read through what sounded like nonsense, but gained the attention of all four men.

"Project Tyler. Caucasian male, age eight. Blonde hair, blue eyes, scar over his right cheek. Originated April 6th, 1996. Died August 14th, 2005. Brought back April 6th, 2007."

There was a stunned silence before Lance was moving over to the desk beside Mack and thumbing through the pages of the file himself, mumbling every few moments before turning back to Trip. "It has everything about this boy, likes, dislikes, comparisons on what scars he got and where and when. They're exactly the same time, whether they took place in 1999 or 2010. This is definitely something that Coulson is going to shit bricks over."

That was when Trip called the girls up to the second floor, his radio going silent seconds before Lincoln exclaimed something that would've stopped Trip in his tracks and make him take back calling down for Skye if he could have. Something that had his stomache twisting in disbelief.

"There's more files over here, too! Dozens of them. Project Arturo. Hispanic male, age twelve. Brown hair, brown eyes. Project Lizzie. Asian female, age thirteen. Black hair, brown eyes. Project Hatley. Caucasian female, age three. Brown hair, blue eyes. Project Chester. African American male, age ten. Brown hair, brown eyes."

Trip could only stare before whispering. "What did you just say?"

"Project Chester-"

"No, before that."

In the next moment that followed, Trip felt like he was going to be sick, and a pang went across him for what he knew was going to follow if what Lincoln said was true, and considering the all-too-serious talk Coulson had given him about calling Skye in, he had a feeling that it was all true.

"Project Hatley. Caucasian female, age three. Brown hair, blue eyes. Originated October 13th, 2007. Died October 13th, 2011. Brought back October 13th, 2012."


	3. Found

There was a moment as the world went still, Trip staring off into space as Lincoln and Mack continued to talk back and forth between themselves about all the other documents they found and what all of this meant. The two were excited, that much was obvious, they had never seen a takedown go so well. Nobody shooting at them, nothing setting off as a trap and the information they were after had just fallen in their lap. It was a good night.

Trip couldn't think of it like that though, he knew they were supposed to be doing a job, but if what that file said was real and Skye got a hold on it.

He couldn't let himself go that far though. The night that Jemma left Skye, she had gone to him, told him what she was doing and where she was going and knew that even if Trip disagreed... He wouldn't dare tell a soul where she was. He had loved Jemma since the moment he met her, and she had known that, which was why she felt safe coming to him. His loyalty was his word, and he couldn't break that. So she had told him what she was doing, so he wouldn't worry, but also so that she could ask him a favour.

Protect Skye. Keep Skye safe. Take care of Skye.

That was easy enough, they were friends and they worked together, it wasn't too much of a burden to keep an eye out on her. He had grown used to that anyways, while he loved Jemma dearly and Skye made him jealous as all could be when she came along, the moment Hatley was born and he knew just how important Skye would always be to his closest friend, he had made sure to watch out for her. He might have been jealous, but he wasn't petty. So from the start he had kept Skye close to him on missions, tried to get between her and anyone that might cause her harm.

That was not uncommon for S.H.I.E.L.D team members to protect eachother. Afterall, if your team didn't have your six... Who would?

But Jemma had never meant take care of Skye in that kind of way. I mean sure, she expected Trip to have her back if someone came after her, but she was looking more for someone to keep Skye safe from Skye. It was no secret that when Hatley had died, Skye took it hard, both of the little girl's mothers had. So it was no surprise that when Jemma left her, Skye took that hard too.

Trip had become the go-to-guy for whenever Skye spent all night out at a bar drinking. He was the one suddenly listed in her medical files as the person to contact in case of emergency, the person who would come pick her up when she drank herself half to death, the one who came got her out of bed on the mornings when she wanted nothing else to do with the world.

At first it had just been something Trip was doing for the sake of his bestfriend. He'd give her updates on Skye and how she was doing, or not doing. She'd swallow down her guilt and thank him for a good job. But during the five years since, he'd gone from taking care of his bestfriend's ex-wife out of duty, to actually caring about his new bestfriend Skye's well-being, regardless of whether Jemma knew or not.

So in those moments, Trip's first thought wasn't Jemma and what she had gotten herself into, but rather Skye and how she was going to take it.

"Hey! There's a room back here... Shit guys, you have to see this!"

Trip spun around to face Lance in the doorway as he waited for the girls so he could give them an update.

"Distract Skye. Find something for her to do until we figure out what this is."

* * *

There had been children, in the room, probably close to two dozen of them.

Mack recognized a few of them from the files that him and Lincoln had skimmed through, their pictures looked just like the children standing in front of them and it made an almost eerie feeling in the pit of his stomache. He could see Trip and Hunter discussing something at the front of the room and Lincoln stared at him, the kid waiting for him to do something, to take some kind of authority until the older officers got over there.

"Do we have a Tyler here? Project Tyler?" He asked uncertainly, wanted to show any leader skills he had from his old job, to prove himself to this new team.

At his request, a little boy stepped forward though and he nodded his head unsurely in response to Mack's question.

"Good... How about Project Chester? Or Project Arturo?"

Two more boys stepped forward and he could see in the light, just how identical they were to their pictures, despite the fact that the pictures stated they were from five, even ten years ago. It was unsettling. He could see Lincoln's eyes go wide and knew just how this might look to someone knew to the team. Hell, he had been there for almost a year and he had never seen anything like this anyways. They had taken down hackers and doctors and did quite a bit of research. Individual members of HYDRA had been arrested because of them, and once he had gone in a hand to hand battle with a guy named Gordon. But this, this was definitely something bigger.

"Do we have a Project Liz-"

"Is Hatley here? Is Project Hatley here?"

Trip cut Mack off with a clap to the back and nod for doing good so far. He looked back to find Hunter gone, and Mack knew something was definitely up.

"Why don't you leave her alone? She's just a little girl!"

One of the girl's cried out from inside the room, and Mack thought he recognized the girl from the files, Lizzie perhaps? Trip's eyes narrowed as several of the boys stood up and moved in front of the young girl and the person she was guarding. They were just kids but Trip could tell that they were used to protecting eachother, the way that the four toughest and oldest looking boys stood to the front as the younger kids hid behind them, his heart ached for whatever made them so quick to defend.

"She's only a baby, why you guys always picking on her?" The boy that earlier identified himself as Tyler spoke up from behind one of the older boys. As Trip turned his head to look at him, the kid squeaked and hid back behind the group that was obviously prepared to defend the younger ones.

"Please... I need to know, is Hatley in here?" Trip's voice softened as he took a steady step into the room, the group taking a step back out of fear.

What looked to be the oldest boy called out, puffing his chest out to look just as mean and scary as the strange man threatening them was. "If she is, she's not going with you! Not anymore. We're not letting you guys test us anymore... We'll fight you!" And there was a collection chorus of "Yeah!" coming from the rest of the group.

Trip paused for a second, pulling his weapon from it's holster and slowly setting it down on the ground, his hands going up in a show of peace.

Lincoln startled from his spot behind Mack and yelled out. "Sir! Do you think that's a good idea?" His own hand was placed precariously over his own weapon, an electrical taser gun, as the three S.H.I.E.L.D. men were stared down by the children. "We have no idea what these kids are capable of."

"Stand down Lincoln!" Trip demanded, as he took another step towards the group, this time the kids not moving from their spot, but not lowering their eyes from staring between him and Lincoln. He glared back at the junior officer until he took his hand away from his weapon and the kids all turned to look at Trip instead. "Please." Trip whispered this time, moving closer to the crowd. "I need to know if it's really her." Locking eyes with the oldest boy, he nodded his okay before turning to let Trip see a tiny girl, clinging to a young woman and he felt a wave of both panic and elation wash over him.

"Hatley?" He asked softly, the girl whimpering in response, before he was getting to his knees just in front of her. "Hatters, it's me."

The child turned her head and there was a sharp intake of breathe as he finally got to see her. The piercing blue eyes that he had seen take Skye down with a single glance, the light brown hair he had watched Jemma braid for hours, the long lashes that almost always convinced him to do the most ridiculous things in the world because 'you's my favourite Uncie Trip!" It was Hatley, there was no doubt about it. He had watched that little girl grow from a baby to a toddler to a little girl, he knew almost everything there was about his only niece, and it was definitely 100% Skye and Jemma's little girl.

"Oh my god, Hatley..." He finally whispered before the girl looked at him and her eyes widened almost comically. The child scrambled from her friend's lap and made the short distance between the two in a wobbly run.

"Uncie Trip!" She had screamed before she was throwing herself into Trip's arms and he wrapped her up tightly against him, his mind racing as all the children stared him down, the little girl snuggled tight into his chest letting out a couple of sobs as she clung to him instead.

It was crazy, it was impossible.

How a small child who died almost five years ago could be alive and well and no older than she was when she died was a baffling mystery, and it made Trip extremely wary, but as he held the little girl who he used to spoil rotten with stuffed animals and tea parties, the only thing he could think about was how Skye was going to react.

* * *

"Hatley?"

A small voice broke the moment between Trip and his niece, and they both looked up over his shoulder to see the blonde who had just entered the room. At the disbelief on Bobbi's face, Trip could only nod his head before she was running forward and engulfing them both in a tight hug, the girl moving from her spot on Trip to cling to Bobbi instead, the sobs getting louder as she could barely stumble through her Aunt's name before she was crying into her.

"How?"

"I have no idea, but I think they're all like Hatley... Dead, but alive."

Bobbi stared back at the rest of the children and her eyes widened, this was definitely going to be a long night. The thought of processing all of the children, finding out who they were and what they were. Not to mention if they still had family alive that were as relieved to see them as Bobbi and Trip were to see Hatley. Coming to Regency, Bobbi hadn't thought they were going to find anything, and now, this was the biggest discovery of her career.

The two held onto Hatley for a moment, both reveling in the little girl that they had lost. She had been just so important to the entire makeshift family surrounding Jemma and Skye, everyone had spoiled her and loved her dearly. When she had died, it had broken almost everyone's hearts, so to have her back... It was a miracle, it really was. A miracle that would have it's own problems, that much was obvious by how little they knew of the situation, but for now, all they could do was enjoy.

Enjoy and wait for-

"Mama! Mama!"

Bobbi and Trip turned slowly to the door, their grip loosening on the little girl as she caught sight of her Mother standing stock-still just a few feet away, a mixture of horror and panic on her face as she stared at the daughter she thought she had lost. There was a pained whimper, before Skye was stumbling back and falling against a wall, tears spilling over as her body was wracked with hysterical crying, the child pulling free from her Aunt and Uncle to step closer to her Mother, a confused and scared look on her face as she watched her Mama cry.

"Mama...?"


End file.
